This traveling installation began as a personal exploration of cute, which I was using to parallel art history. It is a curious contradiction that no one would ever put a grizzly bear into a child's crib, yet a bear is usually an infant's first toy. The same process that a real bear undergoes to become a teddy bear occurs when a Monet painting becomes a coffee mug in a gift shop. Were the Impressionists not once the fierce bears of the avant-garde? The communities the show is created in play a vital role, as they donate materials that become a part of the show and interact with me in the installation process. These are the essential aspects to the contextual shifts in the work as it tours. At every stop the installation grows in both size and in universal significance. It is a B-Movie monster, eating away at audience, environment and critical reactions to philosophy and art history. The audience it visits, not only helps provide its dismembered parts but aids in the creation of the electricity that gives it breath. Their memories and life long reactions to cute are re-presented to them in a way they have never imagined before, using their own personal materials, which hold them. More importantly, art is given life before their eyes.

Wendy DesChene

Project Statement For WYSIWYG

quote of the day

It is a B-Movie monster, eating away at audience, environment and critical reactions to philosophy and art history.